Look before you leap when offered a
leadership role

Ensure that you're the right person, at the right time, for the new role

Managing private practice
firms has gotten even more
challenging in recent years, so
perhaps it is no surprise that
the current leadership has
asked you to take on a new role
in the firm.

But is this the right time in your
career and your life? What are
your inherent strengths and do
your strengths align with what
the firm needs right now? Can
you look down the runway and
predict your next step when the
leadership role runs its course?

by Karen MacKay, MBA, CHIC
President

Let's peel back the layers and
give you some questions to ponder.

To put this decision in context
it is important to clearly understand
where your firm is in its
life cycle. Are the founding
partners still in the firm? What
is their level of influence and
where does your view of the
firm align or differ? Is the firm
positioned for growth and if so
what practice areas will define
the firm's future? Has the firm
suffered any recent blows from
which it needs to stabilize?
Where is the firm positioned in
its marketplace? What are its
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats? What are
the demographics of the firm
and will you have sufficient
support and sufficient influence
going forward?

Considering where your firm
is and what it needs over the
next three to five years will
inform whether this is the right
role for you at this point in your
career and if you are the right
person for the role at this point
in the firm's life cycle. Great
people who step in at the wrong
time can mean failure for the
partner and for the firm.

Second, think about your
strengths vs. the firm's needs.
Do your particular strengths
align with the need in your
firm? Are you a change agent,
an ambassador or a financial
hawk – and what does your
firm need right now?

Let's look at this through the
lens of leadership style. We all
have a natural style that has
developed through work, community
service and life. Are you a
driver or pace setter? Or, are you
a visionary, a consensus builder
or, are you a coach? Are you a
patient communicator who can
help the firm heal following a rough patch? There is a time and place for each of these leaders
but a particular style at the
wrong time can spell disaster.

Depending upon the size of the firm and the role, you may need to give up some or all of your client responsibilities. In a relatively mature or
flat market with increased competition, giving
up your client responsibilities can be at great
personal and professional risk.

Should you step into a role
with the benefit of awareness of
your strengths aligned with the
firm's needs, consider how you
will go about developing versatility.
You can't get from the tee
to the green with one club or, as
the saying goes, if you only have
a hammer, everything looks like
a nail. So it is with leadership
style and your challenge, with
the benefit of a healthy dose of
self-awareness, is a plan to
develop knowledge and skills to
draw upon as the role unfolds.

Taking on a leadership role is
truly service to the firm.
Depending upon the size of the
firm and the role, you may need
to give up some or all of your
client responsibilities. In a relatively
mature or flat market
with increased competition,
giving up your client responsibilities
can be at great personal
and professional risk.

What is the term of the leadership
role? How much of your
practice can you retain? How
do you choose which clients to keep and which clients to delegate
to others in the firm? How
will the clients react – will they
stay with the firm? How will
you be rewarded and for what?
How will your partners measure
your success and in what
time frame?

On the home front, is this the
right time, for example, to perhaps
increase your travel schedule?
Is this role intriguing
because your practice is waning
or because you are getting a bit
bored? Will this be the new challenge you need to reignite
your professional fire?

Finally, start with the end in
mind. The aftermarket for law
firm managing partners is limited
or non-existent. Unlike a
leadership role in the corporate
world, law firms don't often go
the market looking for leaders
– they look within for
people who have earned the
opportunity to influence by
modeling success. Client team
leaders may position themselves
for a senior in-house role and practice group leaders can
be recruited to change firms
with their practice group in
tow
– but these are very rare.

Before taking on a significant
leadership role mid-career, you
want to be confident that the
firm will support you as you
rebuild your practice when your
term is over. How will you gain
the business acumen, financial
and leadership skills to be successful
in the role? How will
you stay at the top of your game
in terms of expertise and how
will you rebuild when your term
is over? What do you want your
legacy to be?

Taking on a leadership role in
your firm can be one of the most
challenging, frustrating,
rewarding, stressful, gratifying
experiences of your professional
life. If you are the right person
at the right time it can be great
fun. If you are the right person
but at the wrong time for you or
for the firm…well you get the
picture. Consider it carefully
and if the informed decision
screams yes
– then go for it.